reko rennie's colossal mural canvases the foundations of a future art museum

an artwork the length of an olympic-size swimming pool has been realized on what will be the foundation of a new public art museum in australia. the lyon housemuseum galleries, set to open in 2018, will be one of the largest dedicated contemporary art precincts in melbourne, offering a platform for contemporary art, architecture and design.

revealed during the announcement was the 44 x 20 meter work by australian contemporary creative reko rennie. ‘visible invisible’ forms the foundation of the new museum, encasing the concrete base of the building. the mural will be visible in its entirety for a short period of time prior to the new museum being constructed on top of it.

time lapse video capturing installation of visible invisible, 2017 by reko rennie
video by cloud nine and dulux australia, courtesy lyon housemuseum and dulux australia

reko rennie has realized ‘visible invisible’ on a site adjacent to the lyon housemuseum using more than 600 liters of dulux ‘weathershield’ paint, marking his largest single painting to date. ‘this is indeed the most ambitious and challenging work I have ever created in terms of the scale and time frame,’ he said. the mural brings together iconography drawn from the artist’s own aboriginal kamilaroi heritage with elements of graffiti. ‘this work turns the tradition role of camouflage on its head, using it to amplify, rather than conceal my identity, and to stake my claim to a luminous, commanding form of cultural visibility.’

all images by john gollings, courtesy lyon housemuseum

‘we wanted to rethink the foundation laying for the new museum,’ architect corbett lyon said. ‘I was struck by the idea of painting a large image over the whole of the foundation, and then progressively covering it up; a bit like the ‘lost leonardo’ in florence. artist reko rennie was very enthusiastic and has produced a truly spectacular work. the title — visible invisible — perfectly captures the idea.’

upon the museum’s opening in 2018, a portion of the artwork will remain visible to hint at the colossal image lying beneath.